Calderdale Let's Get a Good Thing Going

Across the UK, there are many people who would love to do something

they think will enhance their community...

Let's not leave the beach as we found it.

Let's leave it a little nicer.

..but what they're lacking is the money to get their bright ideas

off the ground.

My project needs your vote.

We're giving individuals the chance to kick-start their venture

with donations from their own communities.

THEY CHEER

Brilliant. Come on in, then! Come on.

But to win that pot, and to make dreams a reality,

they first need to win over an audience of locals

who will be voting for their favourite idea.

Is it going to be open for 24 hours a day?

Would this be sort of an annual event?

What are your running costs likely to be?

All across the country,

there are local heroes prepared to go the extra mile

to make our communities better places to live.

It's a very... Sorry.

Unusual for me. Very emotional.

They just need a helping hand to get their ideas up and running.

The champion who you have voted for is...

Welcome to Calderdale in West Yorkshire.

I'm in the southernmost part of the Yorkshire Dales

in a region full of beautiful river valleys,

moorlands and stunning hill country.

The area covers 140 square miles,

and stretches from Todmorden in the west

through Halifax - the borough capital - to Brighouse in the East.

This area has a long association with textile manufacturing,

spinning both cotton and wool into much sought-after fabrics

that were then shipped all over the world.

This is the River Calder,

which of course gives this region the name Calderdale.

Beautiful and peaceful now,

but on Boxing Day in 2015,

this river brought heartache to the community.

The main street in Hebden Bridge and one of the main routes

between Yorkshire and Lancashire flooded again.

The flood sirens sounded just after 7am this morning

after a night of heavy rain.

This is the town of Hebden Bridge,

one of the many towns and villages in this area affected by the floods.

But when communities like this face hardship, they come together,

and from sheer strength of team spirit,

the locals have got this town back on its feet again.

These guys definitely know how to get a good thing going,

and today we've made it our home, too.

The Calderdale locals with us today at the Little Theatre are...

..Adrian, who is trying to prevent future floods

with some digital help,

Catherine, whose coffee club has medicinal benefits,

the radio enthusiasts Ilyas and Howard, looking for locals

to tell them a story,

and John, the food-grower who is hoping to take on a canal.

These community champions each have an idea that could really

help their local area,

but to get the money that could make it happen,

first they need to win over the community.

-How are you doing? All right?

-I'm well, how are you?

-I'm very well indeed. Howard, how are you?

-Ready as I'm going to be.

-Raring to go.

-You're raring to go as well.

-John, how do you feel?

-Good.

A new experience, but a brilliant opportunity.

I just had a little peek at your pitch there. Looking very good.

And Catherine, have you been looking forward to today?

Yeah, really looking forward to it.

-Hopefully I know what I'm talking about.

-Yeah

Well, listen, good luck to each and every one of you.

Enjoy it, speak loud, speak clear

and speak from the heart, I guess.

The Little Theatre in Hebden, our base for today,

also suffered considerable damage

during the 2015 Boxing Day floods.

Boxing Day morning, we were 21 inches deep in water

and then our lighting technician came down

and couldn't even open the doors until the water subsided.

Fortunately we got the doors open,

and then got the water out as fast we could.

What was affected in the theatre?

Well, all the floors, carpets.

We had to have it replastered up the walls.

Some of the seating was ruined, curtains had to be replaced,

the big house curtains.

We had some financial help from the council and the Rotary...

..and all the volunteers came in with paintbrushes

and did whatever they could to get us back.

CHEERING

Right. Shall we do this?

Good day to everyone. Are you ready?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Yes? Come on in, come on in, come on in.

-How you doing? Are you all right? Hiya.

-Hiya.

Hi, nice to see you.

Are you looking forward to today?

-Absolutely, yes.

-Good stuff.

Local people have been invited to hear what our community champions

have to say, and will later vote for their favourite pitch.

As they come in, they can make a cash donation

towards the community fund.

You know, this is one of the most spirited communities I have been to,

and they're all looking forward to today,

but spirited communities might mean that they might be a tough crowd.

Whichever of the four projects wins the most votes from the audience,

they will take home the funds to make their idea happen.

Hello, hello, hello!

Hello. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Today, you've kindly come together for us

to hear four local people pitch to you

their personal passions for the area and to ask for funds.

Now, you've each contributed to the money pot today,

and thank you for that. All you have to do now is sit back,

listen to the four projects and vote for the best one.

-Deal? ALL:

-Yes.

Now, whilst we can't stop the rain,

there's one local group that have got an idea

to slow the process down.

Please put your hands together

and give a warm community Calderdale welcome to Adrian Horton.

A round of applause, please.

-Good luck, Adrian.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'm Adrian, and I would like to tell you about a pilot project

which is looking at ways of reducing flooding in the Calder Valley.

Married father-of-two Adrian was born and bred in London

but now considers the Calder Valley to be his home for life.

I live in Luddendenfoot, which is halfway along the Calder Valley.

I came up from London nearly 30 years ago,

and the community spirit along the valley

from one end to the other is unbelievable.

And it was this community spirit that was called into action

on Boxing Day 2015, when the valley was flooded.

One of Adrian's friends, Carl, who lives in Mytholmroyd,

was one of the community members whose festive celebrations

unfolded into a living nightmare.

It's a bit scary when you think about it.

We went to bed that night after celebrating Christmas with friends,

woke up in the morning to quite a sight.

We'd already lost our basement.

And by the time it finished, it was over the kitchen worktops.

You wouldn't have seen any of that. That would just have been water.

-All the way across.

-A sea of water.

-Absolutely nothing.

You know, the petrol station didn't work,

the cash machines didn't work, the supermarkets couldn't open.

We were very, very reliant as a community on the outside world.

Having experienced first-hand the damage caused by the floods,

Adrian and a group of locals banded together

to see if anything could be done to prevent future flooding.

So, in an effort to prevent as much water

making its way into the main channel, the River Calder,

through the Calder Valley, we're working on many of these

little tributaries that feed the main channel.

And we're making these leaky dams.

They are sections of tree that literally go across the tributaries,

and they dam the water up behind it,

which means there is less water coming through into the river

at the bottom.

Another method used to divert the rainwater is gully stuffing.

So we find anything that is lying on the forest floor that is natural,

and we're simply popping it in there,

stamping down on it and filling the gully

so the water comes over the top of it onto the bank,

because if it's not on the bank, it's not in the gully,

and if it's not in the gully, it's not in the river.

Adrian needs evidence to show the effectiveness of this work.

Having built all these leaky dams and stuffed all the gullies,

in all the area around here,

we now need to measure the success of these leaky dams,

to see how much water they store,

how much water they prevent from

heading that direction, downhill.

So the way we're doing that is by having these time-lapse cameras,

which we are putting in strategically

around the catchment in areas that we put the leaky dams in.

Adrian wants to put a camera specifically in this area

to prove these dams work,

but he doesn't have the money to buy the cameras.

What we learn here we will take away elsewhere

and implement in other parts of the catchment,

and that's why these cameras are so important

because it will measure the success of what we're trying to do.

I'm a volunteer at Slow The Flow Calderdale,

and we're a group of volunteers trying to prove

that natural flood management works in the Calder Valley.

Every time storms take place here in Calderdale,

residences, businesses and owners and visitors worry about the damage

and disruption that floodwaters cause to our homes and businesses.

So it is with this in mind I'm here today asking for your support.

We have surveyed much of the river network in Calderdale,

and looked at how the rivers behave in flood events.

From the information these surveys provide to us,

we have begun installing leaky dams to slow the flow of rainwater

during a storm.

To prove that these leaky dams actually work,

we need to fund a number of time-lapse cameras

to film how the rainwater behaves in these dams during a rainstorm.

And here is one here. Obviously, we can't have volunteers

at every dam during every rain storm event -

that would be a very dull job and not that practical.

Each camera costs about £250, including the bracket,

the weatherproof cover and the SD card itself.

Leaky dams do work,

we simply need to provide the evidence.

And so that more can be installed elsewhere in Calderdale

and further afield, your donation can fund two, three, four cameras

which will help provide the evidence that leaky dams

and natural flood management works.

This will of course benefit us all in Calder Valley,

and our pilot project could also help many other communities

around the UK.

So I hope you will help us pay for more of these cameras

to prove that natural flood management does actually work

to reduce flood risk in the Calder Valley.

Thank you.

Adrian needs £250 for each camera and accessories.

-Well done, Adrian, well done.

-Thank you very much.

We're going to open the floor now, because I'm sure

there's probably a couple of questions, actually,

that people want to ask you. Can we have our first question for Adrian, please?

Yes, the young lady there.

Shouldn't the council or Government agencies be doing this,

-not volunteers?

-Yes.

-Simply, they should. They should.

-Yeah, OK.

But the flood risk has grown massively in the last few years,

there are pots of money to do that work,

and there's only so much money to go around.

So, while there is funding

for some of the work that we're doing,

we just need... You know, this is the proof of the pudding.

This is going to prove that natural flood management works,

not just in here but around the country.

So that's a really important part of what we're trying to do.

-Great.

-Thank you. Great question.

Does anybody have another question for Adrian?

Young lady there, yes, what's your question?

Where did you get the idea for the leaky dams?

It came about, one of our colleagues is a structural engineer,

and he thought that, you know, we have to be able to do something about this.

There are other projects around the UK

that are using similar methods,

but because our terrain is so different to many other parts

of the UK, just because it works in Pickering or Slough, for instance,

we don't actually know that it is going to work here.

We think it does. We know it does,

-we just have to prove it.

-Thank you.

Thanks for your question. Round of applause for Adrian, please.

Good luck, Adrian. Good luck.

It's estimated that, in the UK,

5 million people are vulnerable to flooding each year.

55% of those living in flood-risk areas know they are at risk,

yet only 60% have taken some sort of action.

The pitch went really well today, I was really pleased.

Everyone was very receptive and interested to hear

what we had to say. So, yeah, it went really good.

So, moving on. Anyone who has or has had a baby or toddler

knows how important it is to leave the house and go and talk to somebody.

Well, our next pitcher, who's already doing things for new mums,

believes that she can do even more.

Please welcome Catherine Leedham. A round of applause, please.

-Good luck, Catherine.

-Thank you.

Hello, everybody. I'm Catherine Leedham,

and I'm a volunteer and trustee at Artsmill in Hebden Bridge.

Now, Artsmill's known for its exhibitions,

but with a donation of a kettle and a coffee machine,

we were able to create a little cafe and a lounge area.

Catherine has proudly called Hebden Bridge home for more than 25 years.

Married to David for 13 years, between them they have seven sons,

14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren on the way...

-Daisy.

-..and two cats.

They do like to eat, which you may be able to tell by the size of them.

They're absolutely chubby.

After undergoing several surgeries on her back

and having had to learn to walk all over again,

Catherine's cats Poppy and Daisy helped her to venture

back out of the house.

I spent three weeks in the house.

I'm thinking, "I'm going stir crazy here."

And I was learning to walk properly again,

and I've got two little cats who came with me,

and they just trot to me wherever I go.

Now back on her feet,

and knowing how hard it can be not getting out of the house,

she's created a mother-and-baby group

at the Artsmill cafe in Hebden.

Every Monday the get-together, called Sunnydays,

encourages mums and toddlers to meet and socialise.

After a weekend, mums can feel a bit isolated.

This is actually a lifeline, and they can meet other mums

in the same situation, and they class it as a home-from-home.

Catherine donates the space to the mums and toddler group for free,

and offers teas, coffees and drinks for a reduced price to the members.

Since it was set up,

the group has been invaluable for many of the mums in the community.

I moved to Hebden only a couple of years ago,

and didn't really know anybody here at all so this kind of group

has been absolutely key to getting out there and meeting people,

because you can feel really isolated, I think,

as a mum of young children.

Last year, I suffered from postnatal depression

after having my second child, and I was really struggling.

A Monday morning can be quite a hard thing.

It has been really valuable.

I feel like I've met some of my closest friends here.

You feel accepted and really lucky.

It has saved me in, actually, quite a lot of ways.

Although conversation flows freely at the cafe,

the same can't always be said about the hot drinks.

We built this little cafe on lots of donations and things,

so this was built out of my kitchen from home,

and lots of things have been donated.

You know, we've got a tiny little coffee machine,

which is a kitchen one,

which we're trying to work as a coffee machine for a cafe.

Probably 50% or more of my time just standing round

waiting for kettles to boil,

waiting for different milk to either steam or froth.

This is just a waiting game.

Catherine now has plans to improve the service the cafe offers

to the mums by upgrading the equipment,

but doesn't currently have the funds to do so.

One of the best things about it, being a mum, having been there myself,

somebody actually makes you a cup of tea or cup of coffee,

brings it to you, takes it away and washes up.

It's absolutely fantastic.

And you just sit and play and talk to your new friends.

And it would be absolutely fabulous to have something

that's more professional.

Even if it made two cups of coffee at once it would be so much better.

Talking of cups of coffee, I could really do with one right now.

-David?

-Would you like a cup of coffee?

I would love a cappuccino, please.

This is the coffee machine that we use at Sunnydays for our mums.

One Friday, I got a phone call from Dr Emma Gladwinfield

from the local surgery here in Hebden Bridge.

And she was getting mums into the surgery who maybe

didn't know anybody in Hebden Bridge

and they were feeling a little bit lonely,

so I agreed to let her have our gallery lounge for free.

At the end of last November, Dr Gladwinfield and I decided

that Hebden Bridge would have a Sunnydays for the parents to meet.

The following Monday, the health champions,

mums and toddlers, turned up.

Being a new mum or a grandparent is really hard.

We often get up to 12 mums,

18 babies and little toddlers.

It's very hard work there, and we've got two health champions

who are there every Monday.

They play with the children,

they actually bring the mums cups of coffee.

Lattes, cappuccinos, mocha coffees, you name it, they'll bring it.

All made on this single-cup coffee machine.

Now, you may not think it's important

to have a lovely cup of coffee,

but here in Hebden Bridge we have lovely artwork,

we've got individual shops,

we've got fantastic cafes

and they are known for their lovely coffees that they have,

so why would we expect our mums to expect anything else?

What's this going to cost?

Well, if we had £170 we could get a coffee machine

that has got its own frother, so you don't have to do extra work.

If we had £250 we could get a machine

that made coffee in two minutes.

Yeah. Imagine that.

Just what I need.

Perfect.

Catherine wants £170 for a coffee machine that steams milk,

or for £250 she could get a much faster machine.

-You all right?

-Got there eventually.

-Right, OK, we're going to open the floor for some questions.

-OK.

Who has got the first question for Catherine, please?

Young lady there, yes. Please.

Hi, Catherine. I was just wondering,

how many mums can you get in your cafe?

So, we have about 12 in and we've got lots of seats,

because it is normally a cafe,

but we could probably have five or six more mums with their children.

It does vary each week, you know?

And there's one of those things, if there are more mums,

more mums needing it, we could open another day.

-Brilliant.

-Thanks for your question.

So, who looks after the children?

-The children are with the mums all the time.

-OK.

The mums are still responsible.

But at the same time there is one or two health champions

in the room with you.

A safe room, with the child gate on, and they play with the children.

Catherine, thank you very much indeed.

A round of applause for Catherine and for David.

Good luck, Catherine, good luck.

Thank you.

According to a recent survey,

a massive 92% of new mums reveal they've felt lonely,

and 80% of mums say they wanted more mum friends.

It was a bit nerve-racking to begin with but we got there in the end,

and the audience seemed to appreciate it,

so I was really pleased about that.

OK. So I'm just going to have a quick chat with

some of our members in the audience

to find out if they have been impressed yet.

The young lady there. Are you supporting...?

-Catherine.

-How do you think she did?

I think she did marvellous.

-You are supporting Adrian, right?

-I certainly am.

-How do you think he did?

-I think the boy did good.

What did you think of Catherine?

I thought it was a great presentation, but I drink tea.

LAUGHTER

Note to Catherine there, then.

Right, OK, brilliant. Thank you.

Well, two down, two to go before it's time to decide

who you are going to vote the winner today.

But next, two guys who want someone to tell them a story.

In fact, they want lots of people to tell them lots of stories,

all with good reason.

Please welcome Howard Priestley and Ilyas Najib.

APPLAUSE

Hello, my name is Howard Priestly.

-And this is my colleague Ilyas Najib.

-Hi, everyone.

ALL: Hi.

Now, we're born and bred in Halifax, both of us.

Very proud to be Yorkshiremen,

but also equally proud to be from Calderdale.

Our project is an audio project and it's called Passing Time.

Welcome to Soul City here on Phoenix FM, 96.7,

with me, Howard Priestley.

Howard is passionate about local radio.

He's been managing community radio station Phoenix FM,

which broadcasts across Calderdale, for ten years,

and knows the importance of giving locals a voice.

We like to think of it as the voice of the community.

We're trying to encourage community groups to get involved.

One of our early straplines

was "building bridges and breaking barriers",

and I think that still is what we aim to do.

Ilyas is born and bred in Halifax,

working for a community empowerment group.

He knows a lot of people - and by that I mean A LOT.

-Hi, Jim. It's been a long time.

-And you, Ilyas.

-You all right? Busy?

-Been fairly busy, yeah.

The last time I saw you you had a beard.

How are things?

If the camera weren't rolling, I'd take it all and eat it.

-That's lovely.

-Thank you.

Ilyas' dad Mohammed came to Halifax from Pakistan in the 1970s,

and loved the town so much he stayed.

He became the first Asian councillor in Calderdale in the 1980s,

and served for 22 years on the council.

My dad has always said, "You know what?

"I fought really hard to get this money for this building,

"I really worked hard to get some money for that project,"

so I walk around and I feel so proud

because I can say my dad helped shape that future for someone.

Howard and Ilyas met at the radio station eight years ago.

Now firm friends, they have devised a new project

that they think will give a voice to a section of the community

that is not often heard - the immigrant population.

They want to record a series of audio interviews

so that locals can reveal their own journey to Calderdale

and what they left behind.

They would be stored online and can be accessed globally.

-I spoke to my dad.

-All right, yeah.

He's really keen to share his voice and his story.

Yeah, I think because your dad has got such a...

-History.

-..history, as well, with the town,

he will then be able to unlock other stories

from other people who were working with him at that time, as well.

Probably the biggest reason

I'm involved with Howard in doing this project

is because I want to make a difference.

I want to make sure people's voices are heard.

Everyone's got a story

and everyone should have a right to have their story heard.

By doing these oral histories, although they're local to us,

the families who came to this area

are obviously from other areas around the world.

Family members could learn of what happened when members of

their family came and settled in Calderdale.

It's almost an audio library for the world.

We know the power of hearing the human voice

and the stories that that voice can tell to people.

But there are certain areas of the community still

that haven't had that opportunity to have their voice heard.

We also want to archive those stories

for other people to hear in the future.

We particularly want to engage with the Pakistani community

who came over and settled in Calderdale

after the Second World War.

So they started coming over in the 1950s,

all they came with was one of these suitcases,

the clothes they were wearing,

and little bit of money in their pockets.

What was it like for them?

But, a bit like A Question Of Sport, what happened next?

And that's what we want to find out.

It is going to be archived on our website.

Also it will be listened to through the local radio.

As well as that, we're going to put it into the library

so that people can access it, they can download these stories.

Also, equally important will be that people in other parts of the world,

particularly, say, in Pakistan,

can actually listen to the stories of their own families.

The clever thing about our project, Passing Time,

is that it's not just hearing stories

what happened in Pakistan to people who came over.

We can roll it out to absolutely everyone.

So we want your help, we want your support to hear everyone's stories.

So if you vote for us, £150 would buy us

a couple of digital recorders and some headphones.

600, we could have a laptop to take into community settings

so that people can start to learn

how to actually use this stuff as well.

We would just like to say,

please do vote for us and together let's get a good thing going.

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Howard and Ilyas want £150 for two digital recorders and headphones.

£600 would get them a laptop, as well.

So do we have a question, please, for Howard and Ilyas?

Gentleman there, please, in the blue shirt.

Hi, Ilyas. Hi, Howard. I was just wondering

what sorts of numbers of stories you were looking for.

Is it 50, 100, 1,000?

As many. As many as we can.

The more stories, the more dimensions.

It's like a tree that branches out, you know.

When one person actually starts talking,

someone else actually realises they've got their own story

which might connect to them.

It could be family connections, community connections,

connections from back home. You know, it just depends, you know.

-Thanks, guys.

-Thank you.

I think we had a young gentleman at the back, there, please.

If the project is successful,

would you see it moving on to different communities around the UK

and focusing on different types of people, as well?

Yeah. As mentioned in the pitch,

the aim is to move onto different communities,

and once that happens we can go to different towns, different cities.

There's no reason why someone, you know, in Newcastle

can't share their voice.

-Thank you very much, great.

-Just a quick question from me

just really quick.

I guess the older the person, they may have more stories to tell.

But is there an age limit on that?

Because they do sometimes say that children and young adults

-tell the best stories.

-There is no age limit.

Everyone is entitled to tell a story

and we aim to give them that platform to speak.

Whether you're that big or that big or this big, like me, tell a story.

Fair point, fair point.

Round of applause, please, for Howard and Ilyas.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I'm off to Dubai!

Research suggests that if a person or group

don't feel they're being listened to,

they can feel lonely, sad, frustrated, and even angry.

When their voice is heard it can ease conflict and tension.

To be fair, I thought it went as well as it could go.

If I could change anything...

-It would be me.

-It would be a smaller suitcase.

I think that one gave me a bit of an arm ache.

So, just one more pitch to hear today and then it is over to you.

Now, our last pitch is combining two labours of love.

Please welcome Jon Stopp.

APPLAUSE

Good luck, Jon.

Hello, everybody. I'm Jon.

I'm here today to talk to you about our project on the Rochdale Canal,

and we're looking for your support

to try and make the canal environment

a little bit more community-friendly.

Retired technologist Jon spends every spare moment volunteering in

several organisations in the Calder Valley.

But he's only recently discovered his love of the area.

Five years ago,

if you had said to me, "Come down and spend some time on the canal,"

I'd have said, "Well, what's that?"

And secondly, if you had said to me "Come and do it in Todmorden,"

I'd have said, "Well, where is that?"

It's great being on the canal,

sitting down, watching what's going on,

watching the birds and watching the boaters going up and down.

He volunteers for Incredible Edible,

a not-for-profit organisation based in Todmorden,

four miles southwest of Hebden Bridge.

The group have a very simple aim -

to plant fruit and veg wherever there's a green space available.

We grow herbs and then build planters along the canal network

within Todmorden,

and encourage people to come along and sniff them, taste them,

even take them away and use them.

It is just a way of drawing people together

and smartening the place up, making it practical, usable,

and it draws people together

and makes them aware of their environment

and looking after the canal at the same time.

So I think it's brilliant.

Everyone wants to make their area look better.

Everybody wants to do something,

and it's about being able to do what you can for not much money,

a little bit of time, and it makes all the difference.

The Rochdale Canal goes right through the Calder Valley

and, whilst it looks tranquil now, 200 years ago,

canals like this were like bustling motorways.

Jon also volunteers for The Canal And River Trust,

whose aim is to protect over 2,000 miles of waterways like this.

The reason that these canals exist at all

is that they were here purely and simply for commercial reasons,

and the whole of the Calder Valley,

of which Todmorden is part of,

it's enshrined and rich in industrial heritage.

The canal itself is such an important aspect of the community.

People using it for walking between school and the village

and the shops and whatever.

Both organisations have come together

to care for a one-mile stretch of the canal running through the town.

And their first project was to create

what is called a linear larder along the towpath.

The theme was to put in edible flowers, herbs, fruit trees

that people could come down and enjoy.

But Jon sees more potential in this stretch of canal

and he has a new idea,

but it is going to cost money that he doesn't have.

What we are aiming to do is to install

some very simple benches,

which people in the community can build themselves.

And if we put those in strategic places along this one-mile stretch

it's somewhere people can come and sit down -

they can sit and read a book,

they can sit and chat to their neighbours,

they can sit and talk to the birds if they want to.

And have a really nice time when you're down on the canal.

So that's what we want to do.

Today we went out on the canal

and we picked a few of the herbs which are now growing there.

I've brought them along with me today

and it would be really good if I could hand this out to you.

Have a sniff of them.

Chew them. Eat them.

We have some rosemary, we have some sage

and we have some marjoram.

As people we talk to on the canal tell us,

wouldn't it be nice if we could stop and sit and just look around?

Then we thought, well, OK, we need to green it up a little bit.

So if we can add a bit by putting some trees in...

These are supposed to be plum trees, which at the moment are quite small.

Of course, find a few trees there and we can stick these things up,

which are bird boxes,

or alternatively, as they are here, bug hotels,

I think is what the correct name for them is.

The great thing about all of this

is we want the project to be community-based.

We want it to be a DIY project.

So we could go out and we could buy a bench, plonk it onto the canal,

and you could all go along and sit on it.

But what we wanted to do was first of all have a bench

which fitted in with the heritage of the canal,

but also that it was things which

the community themselves could install,

and so we've come up with a very simple process,

which is you put two posts in the ground -

quite robust ones, I might add -

put a beam across the top, so easy, quick, cheap to install.

Same with the bird boxes.

We can install the bird boxes from a kit,

simply put them up on the tree and off we go.

If we had £100 then what we would be able to do

would be to install one of these benches,

we'd probably be able to afford to put one of these bird boxes in

and we're off on the way.

The more the money, the more we can do, the more we can actually go.

But we can start really small and grow.

Thank you.

Jon wants £100 for a bench and a bird box.

£250 would get two benches plus fruit trees.

OK, let's open the floor.

First question for Jon, please.

-Yes.

-I'm just wondering what kind of fruit and vegetables and herbs

you're planning to grow there.

Are they going to be indigenous ones?

Otherwise, how is the climate going to cope?

We've been successful over five years,

so we must have found the right species to put in the right place

that flourish in the right places. We have some very difficult places

to put things, but as I say, it seems to work.

How about mushrooms?

Do you know, it wasn't on the list, but now you put it there,

I can't see any reason at all why we couldn't.

Come along and help us and tell us all about mushrooms,

because I know absolutely zip about mushrooms.

I like them, but...

I love that. That's the community spirit happening right there.

If you hadn't had asked that question,

you wouldn't have got the answer from Jon

and now you've got an invitation and you can communicate now.

I love that. Round of applause for Jon, now.

-Jon, good luck.

-Thank you.

How did the pitch go today?

Once you've overcome the initial nervousness

and you get the support from the people down there,

I quite enjoyed it, actually.

A new experience, different experience.

Well, that is it.

Our four community champions are now backstage, so the question is,

who gets the money?

Which project do you think the community of Calderdale

will benefit from the most?

Well, let's remind ourselves of our four projects.

Today we heard from Adrian Horton and his digital camera plan.

APPLAUSE Yes.

From Catherine, who wants to help parents get connected.

APPLAUSE Yes.

We learned about audio archives of the Calderdale locals

and their stories.

APPLAUSE

And the canal adoption that could be very fruitful.

GROANING Oh, come on.

See what I did there? But, look, I'm sure you will all agree,

we have got four fantastic community champions back there

with four great ideas.

Which project is going to benefit the community the most?

It's time to vote.

Everyone voting today has contributed towards a fund

which totals £504.90.

After listening to the four projects,

I don't know which one I'd choose, you know.

They have all got advantages.

It is going to make their decision very tough, I think.

Well, all of them are great.

Yes. They're all different in the projects they're supporting,

but the passion and commitment was great there

and just shows the kind of community spirit that we've got in Calderdale.

Adrian did really well. I think, you know,

what's important is that whatever money is donated tonight

will save thousands of pounds in the long run

with the damage that it stops.

I thought she did really well

and she's always relaxed and always cheerful and that came across.

Well, I live in the flood area so obviously, yes,

I have got a favourite!

Anything that can be done to improve that is brilliant.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Now, I don't know how you managed to pick a group or one

out of these four fantastic ideas,

but it must've been a tough decision.

But one that you have done, so thank you for that.

The votes have been counted and verified.

And taking home today's pot...

..the winner is Adrian, with our flood cameras.

Round of applause for Adrian, please.

-Well done, Adrian. Well done indeed.

-Thank you, thank you.

-How do you feel? All right?

-I'm a bit gobsmacked, to be honest.

-Yes?

-It's good. Thank you.

It's great and it just reflects the community spirit

we've got in Hebden Bridge, in the Calder Valley.

It's fantastic. So many people were affected by the floods,

and sometimes they get sick and tired of talking about them

but when something like this happens it's great, so thank you very much.

That just leaves me to say, Adrian,

this is for you to get a good thing going.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations. Well done indeed.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all.

Well done, kid. Thank you.

You did brilliantly.

Congratulations.

I think the final result was the right result.

It was a worthy winner.

We don't think there are any losers today.

We gained three other really good groups or people or organisations

that we can link with.

It's little bit disappointing that we didn't win but, you know,

we've all got some absolutely fantastic projects

and I think the winner,

I think it resonates with the people of Hebden Bridge.

There's a great community,

they are passionate about what actually happens here

and they want to get involved.

You know, I wasn't too sure

what we were going to get today in Calderdale

because, let's face it, they've been through so much.

But having said that, with Adrian winning,

it's proof that the community really are fighting back.

Whilst the days may be shorter,

Adrian has wasted no time in ordering his digital cameras.

Winning over £500

has been absolutely fantastic for our project.

We've got two time-lapse cameras that we've now managed to buy

to film the leaky dams, which are down here and up there

and throughout this part of Calderdale.

It's absolutely fantastic.

Leaky dams are gullies

that before would allow water to rush down the hillside,

but are now packed with logs and branches

to slow the pace of the water.

Adrian plus volunteers Stewart and Joey

get to work setting up the cameras.

We're going to set this at one-minute intervals

to take pictures during the daytime.

And if these dams start to fill

that is a sufficiently small interval

to see the action behind the dam,

so the actual water rising behind the dam.

And that footage will be evidence

that shows exactly how the hillside and the new leaky dams respond

when it rains.

This is footage of one of the dams.

You can see the rain is coming down.

-Oh, yeah. And it's building up...

-Right up behind the dam.

The detail you can see, it's just fantastic.

We can pick up any rain event that happens at any point

from this point forward.

That's great, that is going to be so invaluable going forward.

With Christmas coming, it's a stark reminder

of what happened on Boxing Day.

Tension levels are quite high.

The footage from these two cameras

is going to go a great way to easing minds

and showing them that natural flood management does work,

and is helping prevent what happened here.

We've done this because it's the combination of 18 months' work,

so to have these two cameras now,

where they're going to be filming the results,

what we've done over 18 months is just fantastic.

The volunteers are going to be really happy,

as are the residents on the Calder Valley.

So as the cameras get to work, what about the runners-up?

What has happened to their dream projects?

Jon wanted funding to add benches and wildlife boxes along the canal.

We've managed to secure the materials

which mean that we can go out

and we can put one of these benches onto the canal.

And we've even had somebody came along and said,

"Hey, look, I've got this bird box in my garden shed. Here it is."

Whilst we might start with one,

if we end up with six or ten or 20

in different locations along the canal,

then that's absolutely brilliant.

And this has definitely helped us to start along that road.

Howard and Ilyas wanted funding to create an audio history

reflecting the life stories of Calderdale locals.

We spoke to a couple of people on the night

connected to the University of Huddersfield,

and they told us about a big oral history project

that takes place there and has been there for a few years

and they said, you know, you really should get in touch with them

because it could be something they would love to get involved with.

And Catherine wanted funding to get a professional coffee machine

for her mother-and-baby group.

On the pitch night, we talked about what else we could do

with the mums and babies and we're going to start a baby art class.

We wouldn't have even known about that

if it hadn't have been for Let's Get A Good Thing Going.

You know, great things happen when a community gets together.

What are the possibilities for your area?